ITALY’S populist Government is on the brink of a crisis as its two deputy prime ministers are at loggerheads over immigration after Matteo Salvini’s order not to let illegal migrants disembark was ignored by his coalition partner Luigi Di Maio.

The coalition which brought to power a populist and eurosceptic force could crumble over the latest migrant crisis faced by Rome. Mr Di Maio and Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte have accepted to take in some of the asylum-seekers rescued by two German NGOs ships Sea Eye and Sea Watch, despite Mr Salvini had refused for 20 days to let the stranded migrants to disembark. This decision sparked the outrage of the anti-immigration leader, who has made the cut of the number of arrivals of illegal immigrants to Italy his flagship policy.

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It’s fine if Di Maio speaks his mind and that we debate among ourselves with Prime Minister Conte, but on migrants I am the one who decides

Matteo Salvini

After Italy accepted the migrants, the leader of right-wing Lega said: “Europe is welcoming more migrants yielding to the the blackmails of NGOs and immigrant traffickers, and this risks to become a major problem.”

The interior minister, who is also Italy’s deputy prime minister alongside Mr Di Maio, leader of the Five Star Movement, had already attacked earlier this week his coalition partner as he was opening up on the possibility to welcome to Italy at least the women and children aboard the two rescue ships.

In a raging comment over the issue which aimed at separating the powers of the two leaders, Mr Salvini said: “No one arrive to Italy. Harbours are closed, shut down.

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Migrants aboard the Sea Watch and Sea Eye have been taken in by Malta (Image: GETTY)

Matteo Salvini said he is the one making decisions on migrants (Image: GETTY)

“This is the line we adopted and is not changing.”

Malta let the asylum-seekers disembark on its shore earlier this week but demanded other EU countries to take in some of the 49 migrants.

The exact number of the asylum-seekers set to arrive to Italy hasn’t been announced yet, but Mr Conte had previously indicated Rome was ready to welcome around 15 people.

Luigi Di Maio is one of the two Deputy Prime Ministers of Italy (Image: GETTY)

The populist Government swore in on June 1 after three months of talks between the leaders of parties who won seats in Parliament at the March 4 elections.

MrSalvini immediately adopted a harsh stance against immigration, making the decision, condemned by the EU, to close Italy’sharbourto any ship carrying migrants, with the exception of the Italian Navy’s.

This anti-immigration policy, unprecedented in Italy, deniedthe accessto Italy to almost 3,000 people rescued in the Mediterranean.